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This week's episode of World Ocean Radio kicks off a multi-part series on the Ocean Literacy Principles. The next eight episodes will provide an anthology of reflections, examples and illustrations that represent responses to the ocean and the environmental challenges we face. We will focus not only on ocean science and the ways that the Ocean Literacy curriculum aligns with the current educational system in the United States, but also on the ways that ocean relates to climate, fresh water, food, energy, health, work, trade, transportation and much more.
As climate change is continually felt everywhere on the planet, how might we protect against the impacts of extreme weather, sea level rise, and more? In this episode of World Ocean Radio we outline the role of insurance companies and the ways in which insurance must adapt as a risk management tool for the world's most vulnerable.
In this episode, part two of a 2-part series on deep sea mining, we pick up where we left off by taking on the question of "what's next?" in the wake of the failures of the Nautilus deep sea mining venture in Papua New Guinea. We discuss the challenges for future exploration and extraction of rare earth minerals used in alternative energy production and question how we can justify taking these resources in our quest to develop new and innovative technologies for the 21st century and beyond.
There has long been public opposition to deep sea mining, a technology that extracts resources from the ocean floor. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill discusses the Solwara 1 deep sea mining experiment in Papua New Guinea and poses questions about the meaning of the project and its impacts on the environment and both local and national economies. And he highlights some of the various groups mounting opposition and legal action against the principle Nautilus Minerals and the various holding and investment companies involved with the project.
As fisheries worldwide are being depleted by over-fishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU), interest in an ever-expanding Arctic is growing exponentially. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines a 2015 meeting of five Arctic nations during which catch limits were imposed; and a follow-up meeting in 2017 in which delegates from five additional countries took the agreement a step forward toward legally binding, an effort that would prevent commercial fishing in parts of the Central Arctic Ocean until science-based fisheries management measures could be put in place.
In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio we discuss publications, reports, and projects that are integral to the evolution of ocean policy and science, including the Atlas of Ocean Wealth, published in 2016 by the Nature Conservancy.
Carbon offsets offer ways for retailers and consumers to help meet the challenge of climate impacts and environmental consequences, and can be an effective means of contributing to conservation. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill introduces a new W2O carbon offset initiative in partnership with South Pole and UCapture that supports progressive action toward a carbon-diminished future.
In mid-June the World Ocean Observatory co-hosted the Arctic Summer Institute in Portland, Maine in partnership with the University of Maine School of Law and the Climate Change Institute. The purpose of the week-long conference was to advance the conversation of Arctic issues and events related to climate change. In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines the long-standing agenda of traditional Arctic meetings and the ways that new investigations, conversations, and constructive exercises such as those carried out during the Arctic Summer Institute have the potential to further facilitate outcomes born of unexpected ideas and imaginative exploration among young thinkers and Arctic experts.
The sea has long been a source of storytelling and of real-time adventure tales. The great futuristic tale of our time is "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" by Jules Verne. It is a story of the submarine vessel Nautilus and her captain, Nemo. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill discusses this and other tales, as well as the evolution of submarine technology and the advent of modern day underwater tools and devices for global ocean research in unexpected places.
We live in a time when environmental regulations are being rolled back in the United States and beyond. As such, many environmental groups are turning to the law to enforce and uphold protections against industrial pollutants and fossil fuel activities such as hydrofracking that are harmful to the environment. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we share certain cases and suits brought against polluters by groups such as the Center for Biological Diversity, Our Children's Trust, and most recently by the Permanent People's Tribunal On Human Rights as a means to advocate for the natural world and the benefits to all mankind.
On June 8th we celebrate World Oceans Day, an annual day set aside to recognize our relationship with the ocean through global connection. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we ask what Oceans Day is meant to do and question what it will take for the will of the people to translate into a voice for change toward a healthy ocean and a sustainable future.
Humankind has for centuries been connected to the cycles of the year for sustenance from land and sea. We have built our communities and our spiritual and social celebrations around the observations of the seasons and the changing light. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill discusses this rich history and today's troubling impacts of scale, global food production, climate change, and the resultant consequences of our consumption. And he praises the recent trends pointing toward a revival of local fishing and agriculture and the ways that we can benefit from investing in the health of our communities.
On June 9th, 2018, a March For The Ocean (M4O) will take place in Washington, D.C. and in cities around the world. In this episode of World Ocean Radio we encourage listeners to gather in the nation's capital, to find a march in a city nearby, to organize, and to volunteer. We argue that we must declare, loudly and publicly, that the ocean will prevail and will continue to support us for generations to come if only we have the courage and the will to sustain it.
As humans migrate toward the coastal zone in the next 30 to 50 years, less seaside space will be available for us to enjoy, to entice our senses, and to rejuvenate our souls. In this episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill outlines some of the sensate experiences that may be at risk of being lost if and when we are deprived of our connections to the sea.
On April 22nd we celebrated Earth Day, an annual day set aside to honor the environmental movement of the 70s to demand action for the health of our planet. World Ocean Radio decided to postpone talking about Earth Day this year in the hope that we might remind listeners that we must celebrate, speak out and stand up for the environment every day.
Ocean news is often bad news these days. We are bombarded with stories of pollution, overfishing, of sea level rise and the dire consequences of extreme weather and CO2 emissions. This week on World Ocean Radio, however, we're focusing on some good ocean news. In this episode we share some optimistic and encouraging headlines from the March/April issue of ECO magazine: a collection of stories highlighting progressive ocean solutions in the US and around the world.
Waste and waste management are new and increasing challenges in recent decades. How do we dispose of toxic waste, plastic packaging, electronics, and other discards of modern society? Where does it all go? In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines current efforts to recycle and repurpose trash in efforts to slow the contribution to the waste stream, and he suggests some new ideas for turning waste into profit.
In this episode of World Ocean Radio, part 2 of a two-part series on environmental law, host Peter Neill provides a series of examples of systems we have in place to protect nature and its resources. These protections extend from international treaties to intergovernmental agencies and NGOs working to enact and secure maritime policies, governance and legal rights; and from law centers to the United Nations working to set standards for marine protections and indigenous peoples rights, and for the conservation of Nature, ecosystems, and natural resources.
Laws protect us from abuse, they preserve the stasis of systems, and they maintain stability and sustainability. We live in a time when the vast majority of the world's wealth is derived from the exploitation of natural resources, and there are laws and legal responses to protect those resources from corruption. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines a series of additional laws that are intended to protect Nature and its resources--water, fresh air, food, and all living organisms--from corrupt values, indifference, and the consequences of exploitation. And he reaffirms the importance of the Public Trust Doctrine which demands that all resources must be sustained for the benefit of ensuing generations. "Nature and the Rule of Law" is part one of a two-part series dedicated to environmental law.
A recent video showing a torrent of plastic rushing down a river in Guatemala prompted World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill to respond this week with a clarion call asking us to confront plastic pollution. In this episode he asks why, given our capacity for ingenuity, we currently lack the technology, motivation and incentive to clean up the plastic pollution problem plaguing the world ocean.
Aquaculture has long been a controversial industry fraught with conflict: waste and feed pollution, use of antibiotics, escape of genetically modified species, and more. But as seafood demand continues to grow unabated and overfishing practices continue, the farm-grown fish industry will continue to function as a response to that demand. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill outlines a number of steps and improved technologies that have been employed to change the aquaculture industry from a negative to a positive producer in the world economy.
World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill recently returned from the Economist World Ocean Summit in Cancún, Mexico where he gathered with 400 ocean leaders and decision makers to discuss ocean policy, strategies, research, exploration and innovation. In this 461st episode of World Ocean Radio he shares what was discussed at the summit but also what was left out: namely the global fresh water cycle and the ocean as a financial, political, social, and cultural system. And he shares a surprising discovery made while swimming in an underground limestone cave in the the Mayan ruins at Chitzenitsa.
The pursuit for oil continues, even as many alternatives emerge and investments are displaced. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill discusses the various governments around the world doubling down on their search for and extraction of oil, even as the world appears ready to move beyond the investment toward cleaner technologies.
Early in 2018, BlackRock asset management chair Larry Fink issued a statement declaring growing public demand for companies to serve a social purpose. He asserted that, increasingly, both public and private companies must be able to explain their social and environmental impacts and be able to demonstrate leadership to drive prosperity and security--not just for their own investment returns--but for all. In this episode of World Ocean Radio, host Peter Neill hails this paradigm shift suggested by Mr. Fink and proposes a World Ocean Fund for investment-based forward-looking technologies, sustainability and responsibility in markets to shape the 21st century and beyond.
Ocean technologies and exploration are expanding at a remarkable pace, giving scientists and casual observers more data by which to learn more about ocean systems, fish migrations, fisheries management, physics, biochemistry, weather, climate, ecosystems, and much more. In this week's episode of World Ocean Radio host Peter Neill examines sail drones, an emerging technology that offers ocean data collection that is flexible, cost effective, easily recoverable, easy to maintain, and re-programmable at sea.